


1985

by starsandrockets



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 04:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14128017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsandrockets/pseuds/starsandrockets
Summary: It is the summer of 1985. Eleven is back, Will is safe, and the party is about to start high school. Mike does not think life could get any better. Meanwhile, Ten tries to navigate the outside world and life without her twin sister. Danger still looms in Indiana and Steve finds himself stuck in the middle of it all, but does he have what it takes to try and save everyone?





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This is a story that I originally published on FanFiction, but I wanted to post it here as well. After Stranger Things 2 came out, I was super inspired and wanted to write something about other test subjects for Hawkins' Lab. Each of the chapters swaps perspectives, mostly between Ten and Mike Wheeler. I hope you enjoy!

_TEN_ / Prologue

A week before Hawkins' Lab was taken down by monsters, Nine saw it happen.

The identical twins had been studied and isolated together, but with the touch of Papa's hand, Ten saw the others. Amazing children with incredible abilities.

Nine and Ten's powers were a bit different. Their power was seeing. With just a touch, Nine could see someone's future where Ten could see their past. "Together," Papa had told them, "you can see everything."

But they were not together. Not anymore. Not since that night at Hawkins' Lab. Nine had seen the way out; she had been so set in her certainty. Ten, who was always dwelling in the past, felt a new and unfamiliar sense of hope. A sense that was ripped away the moment one of those faceless _things_ took her sister.

And all she could do was run.


	2. August 18th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "August rain: the best of summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."  
> -Sylvia Plath

_MIKE_ / August 18th

All he could do was run.

With the cool air raw in his lungs, his bare feet pounded against the forest floor. He had to get to her. He had to save her.

"Mike!" the familiar voice screamed for him again. Picking up speed, he could see Hopper's cabin in the distance. Was it just him or was the cabin moving farther and farther away the closer he got?

A clap of thunder stopped Mike in his tracks, suddenly unable to move. "Frozen" as Will had once described it. He looked up to the sky, all black and red and stormy, illuminating the silhouette of the Mind Flayer as it rose from behind the cabin in the distance. Mike wanted to scream to her, to warn her, to save her. He wanted to do something, anything at all! But he was stuck in the trance of the shadow monster.

With ease and power, the Mind Flayer crushed the roof of the cabin, reaching toward the girl inside. " _Eleven!_ " Mike finally managed to shout.

" _Mike_!"

His eyes snapped open.

"Mike, sweetheart. Are you alright?"

Mike was back in his bedroom, his mom leaning over him as she cupped his face in her hands. Light washed in from the window, casting horizontal stripes of morning light over her figure.

"Mom," he whimpered. It had been ten months since Jane, or El as he still liked to call her, came back and closed the gate. Ever since, all he had dreamt about was losing her again.

"You had another nightmare, honey, but you're okay. Everything's alright," his mother assured as she leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Come downstairs when you're ready. I made you pancakes!"

Karen straightened to leave the room, but before she went she grabbed her son's hand and gave it a small squeeze. "Happy Birthday, Michael."

Right! In the grog of sleep and the anxiety of his nightmare, Mike had almost forgotten. It was August 18th, 1985: Mike Wheeler's fourteenth birthday.

"Thanks, Mom," he smiled, and she mirrored the expression with a gleam.

As she left the room Mrs. Wheeler muttered something to herself about how they grow up so fast and she could not believe her little boy was starting high school next week.

Once she was gone, the birthday boy rolled himself out of bed and changed out of his pajamas before following his mother downstairs, where the smell of breakfast floated through the air.

He took his place at the dining table across from where Holly was anxiously awaiting her food. "Happy birthday, Mikey!" she cheered, lifting both arms into the air as high as they could reach.

A second, "Happy birthday," echoed from close behind, causing Mike to jump.

Nancy giggled at the startled reaction she had caused as Mike muttered his thanks to both of his sisters, the older of which took the seat adjacent to her brother. As she did so, she placed two tickets on the table in front of him.

"No way," Mike whispered as he studied them, each an admission for the Star Wars double feature the next day. He had been begging his mother for weeks for the money to go, and there they sat in front of him. "For me?"

"Who else?" Nancy grinned. "Plus one. I thought you could invite Will or Dustin or _El_."

"Thank you, Nance!" Mike told her, ignoring his sister's playful emphasis on El's name.

"You're welcome," she replied before adding in a voice intended for an infant, "Anything for my little baby brother's birthday!" She proceeded to ruffle his long hair, leaving him to swat her off with his hands in defense.

"That's enough," Their mother warned, placing a platter of warm pancakes on the table.

"Pancakes!" Holly squealed.

But before any of them could dig in, there was a frantic knocking at the door that startled them all. " _Mike_!" they heard the familiar voice shout form the other side.

"Dustin," Mike rolled his eyes, irritated that his birthday breakfast was being interrupted before it had even begun. He rose from his seat. "I'll get it."

" _Mike_!" Dustin called again.

"I got it," Mrs. Wheeler assured her son. "You eat your breakfast."

When she unlatched and opened the front door, "Hi, Dus -" was all she was able to get out before she was cut off by the whirlwind that was the young Mr. Henderson.

The curly haired boy threw a, "Good morning, Mrs. Wheeler," over his shoulder as he shoved his way inside. Once in the dining room, he leaned over the table and grabbed a pancake, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth. In between chewing and catching his breath, he exclaimed, "Mike! Emergency party meeting. _Now_!"


	3. Indianapolis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Both domestic abuse and sexual assault are very briefly mentioned in this chapter. Please mind your triggers.
> 
> "Though nobody can go back and make a new beginning, anyone can start over and make a new ending."  
> -Chico Xavier

_TEN /_ Indianapolis

Nine had always been her rock. She was a voice of logic and reason, viewing the greatest possible outcome and making the choice that would get them there. In return, Ten knew everything there was to know about her sister. Not only had they gone through everything in their short lives as a team, but at the end of every day Ten was able to take Nine's hand in hers and see their small world from her sister's perspective, while Nine watched what was to come of tomorrow. Because of this, Ten understood Nine in a way that they could communicate almost wordlessly.

Nine's absence left a hole so deep that Ten sometimes did not feel anything at all. She was not complete without her twin. But as the months went on she was learning how to be. Not only that, but she was learning how to function like a normal human being.

Ten had fled to Indianapolis, a busy city were anyone could blend in. She ran into a small group of other lost souls who decided to take her in as one of their own. They helped clothe her and kept her fed and taught her the ways of the world (or at very least the ways of the city).

There were an even four of them: Ten was the newest among two girls named Yaya and Alisha and a boy called Tack.

The four became inseparable, exploring Indianapolis together. With nowhere to go and no place to call home, they grew accustomed to sleeping on floors of random punk houses, or on the grass at the park, or sometimes not at all.

Though she kept her powers a secret, Ten liked to casually sift through their memories without them noticing. One night, weaving their way through a crowd, Yaya grabbed Ten's hand and for a moment she was a younger version of her friend, being relentlessly abused by her father and being called by her real name. Another night, Alisha cried to her and as she rested her head on Ten's shoulder, Ten saw the past through the eyes of Alisha, sobbing at the bottom of the shower after her boyfriend violated her without consent.

Tonight, as the four of them stood on the train, Ten studied her reflection in the dark window. Alisha had once described her as " _striking_ ," whatever that meant. Small eyes deep blue, full lips pink, rounded cheeks ivory. Ten's hair, once buzzed, had grown out substantially and now sat like a chocolate mop on top of her head that she tried, emphasis on tried, to keep out of her face with a headband. Often it failed her and a strand of hair would manage to escape and flop over on her forehead.

She watched her reflection's eyes widen as the train lurched to a stop. Ten lost her balance, instinctively grabbing Tack's tattooed forearm for support. Seeing through Tack's eyes, she was taken back to a time when he told his mother that he liked boys the way he should like girls. " _Get out of my house and don't bother coming back_ ," she had coldly demanded.

"You alright, Rose?" Tack asked Ten as she released his arm, snapping out of her vision. She looked up at him and smiled casually.

Rose was the nickname her friends had settled on. It was an evolution of "Ten." It began with Alisha, who within the first few weeks began occasionally referring to Ten as Dime, the ten cent coin. Yaya was quick to shift it to Roosevelt, the man on the coin, which Tack shortened to Rose not too long after. _"Red roses! That's what we'll call you,"_ he had excitedly exclaimed, and she had happily accepted. Because unlike Roosevelt or Dime or Ten, Rose was an actual first name. And often Ten liked to pretend exactly that; she would tell people that Rose was her real name and Ten was just what everyone called her, rather than the other way around. It gave her a sense of normalcy that was false, but normalcy nonetheless, even if her life was far from it.

"Come on," said Tack as the doors of the train opened and people began flooding in and out. He grabbed her hand, leading her onto the platform. As he did, another one of his memories flashed in her vision, this one more recent than the last.

_He sat with Alisha and Yaya in the park, making snide comments as he so often did._

_"Ya know, Josh," Yaya said to him, "one of these days I'm gonna find a thumbtack, and I'm gonna make it my thumbtack, and I'm gonna name it after you."_

_"Josh the Tack," Alisha mused._

_He let out a loud laugh. "Why? 'Cause I'm sharp?"_

_"No. 'Cause you're a prick," Yaya replied._

_They had been calling him Tack ever since._

Releasing the vision along with his hand, she looked around trying to regain her bearings. The group was off to a party, one of many they were invited to in Tack's line of business. Typically when they went, they would only stay for a bit, selling pot until they were out and then leaving.

This time, however, they were going for the fun of it. When Ten asked why, Alisha told her that they were celebrating a friend's birthday. Ten knew that she and Nine had been born together, but could not help but wonder if they had a birthday, too.

"This way," Yaya announced once they got to the street, taking on the role of navigator. They walked three blocks before swinging a left and walking a few more, arriving at a tall, brick apartment complex.

"This is it," said Yaya, her eyes scanning the scale of the building. She dug a piece of paper out of the front pocket of her jeans and uncrumpled it. "This is definitely it." She double checked the apartment number before stepping up to the door and pressing the corrosponding buzzer.

They waited in silence for a moment, then a moment more before a man's voice came over the intercom system. "What's the password?"

Tack chuckled behind Ten. "It's Tack, you ass, let us in."

They heard a loud buzz from the speaker, then listened for the click of the lock. The four friends shuffled themselves inside and boarded the nearby elevator.

"What number?" Alisha asked, assessing all of the buttons.

"Top floor," replied Yaya, reaching over and pressing the button number ten herself.

Tack placed a hand on Ten's shoulder and shook her back and fourth excitedly, causing her head to bob up and down. "Our lucky number!"

Everyone grinned in agreement as the elevator soon made its way to the top with a ding. They all stepped to into the narrow hallway, Yaya and Alisha taking lead and finding the door to the penthouse unlocked.

"Party's here!" Ten heard someone shout from inside as the two girls ahead invited themselves in.

Tack lead Ten through the threshold with his hand around her waist, his fingers brushing the sliver of space where her shirt had lifted away from her jeans. Ten was transported again, but instead of seeing a memory through Tack's eyes, she was floating above as she watched the scene unfold.

_Tack was taller, but the guy in the white shirt was bigger and much more muscular. They were arguing at a party when all of a sudden the man in the white shirt threw a punch, nailing Tack square in the jaw. Everyone began shouting._

Ten snapped back to reality as Tack's hand settled on the high waist of her denim shorts. Looking to him, she noticed he was wearing the same outfit she had just seen in her vision. Which, she supposed, was not unusual as they all had just a few changes of clothes.

But then a guy in a white t-shirt came over and welcomed them in, handing them both drinks. From her angle back down in her own body she recognized him as Matt, the guy Tack had been talking to lately, and Ten could not help but notice that while he was not as tall as Tack, Matt was definitely bigger and more muscular. He leaned to whisper something in Tack's ear and received a toothy grin and a kiss on the mouth in response.

 _'Did I just see the future?'_ Ten could not help but wonder. Shaking the thought out of her head, she quickly downed the drink in her hand as if it would wash the idea away. Collecting people's memories was her power, but seeing their futures belonged to Nine.


	4. The Wish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"  
> -Mary Oliver

_MIKE_ / The Wish

As he and Dustin rode their bikes down the street toward the Henderson home, Mike prodded for the hundredth time, "What's the emergency?"

"I'll explain everything when we get to my house!" Dustin continued to repeat.

Mike sighed and gave up. They were nearing the Henderson's, anyways. "If it's so important, why didn't you have Steve give you a ride?"

"He's in the city for the weekend. Remember?"

Right. El had mentioned something about that.

The two boys rounded the corner into the driveway and dumped their bikes in the front yard next to the others, evidence that Lucas and Will were already there. As was Max, Mike noting the skateboard propped up against the front porch.

Mike huffed as he made his way up the front steps behind Dustin. "Okay, we're here. What's so important?"

Dustin cracked open the front door just enough for the cat to pop it's head out. "No, no, no. Back inside," he instructed the pet, shooing it back into the house with his hand.

"Dustin," Mike tried to complain again as he stepped through the threshold behind his friend.

When Dustin flicked on the lights, " _Surprise!_ " came from all corners of the small living room, his friends popping out from different hiding spots. It caused Mike to jump back. He hunched over, putting one hand over his racing heart and the other on Dustin's arm. He would be lying if he said it had not scared the shit out of him.

He took a moment to recover before he started laughing. "You guys are the -"

"Best?" Max interjected.

"- worst," Mike finished. "But best works, too."

A familiar hand reached for his. He turned to see his El standing next to him, as beautiful as ever. She smiled his favorite smile and threw her arms around his neck, drawing him into a close hug.

"Happy birthday, Mike," she whispered.

"Thanks, El."

She released him and looked up, smiling again so brightly it lit up her big brown eyes. He could not help leaning in and briefly pressing his lips agaisnt hers. It was not something he usually did in front of the rest of his friends (especially Lucas and Dustin) because of all of the crude comments they liked to make, but today was his birthday and he could not care less.

"Damnit, Wheeler, not in front of the cat," Dustin complained.

Mike pressed his forehead against El's and chuckled. He tucked a strand of her now shoulder length hair behind her ear and pulled away.

Will walked over and gave Mike a short hug. "Happy birthday!" he wished. Lucas followed, doing the same.

"What do you wanna do first?" Dustin asked, clapping Mike on the shoulder. "We could play games, watch movies, open presents... Oh! And we have cake. Max and El made it."

Mike smiled at El, who had made her way back to Max's side.

"It's ugly," Max warned.

"But it's what's on the inside that counts," Lucas was quick to add.

There had been a time when El was jealous of Max. Hated her, even. It was funny to think that not even a year later they were the best of friends.

Fighters began turning to lovers back in March, as Mike recalled. One day, the party of six had been hanging out in the Sinclair's back yard when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Max rushing to take off her hoodie, tying it around El's waist. The redhead put one had on the other girl's shoulder and leaned in, whispering something into her ear. All El gave was a bewildered look in response. Mike began walking over to assess the situation, but Max was already ushering El to the bathroom inside.

The girls reappeared fifteen minutes later. "What was that about?" Mike questioned.

"I got my period," El stated matter-of-factly. Mike nearly choked on air at the bluntness of her response.

"Boys are weak," Max told El and they both giggled at the joke they would continue to share from then on.

The next day when Mike went to the cabin to check on her, she and Max were sitting on the floor with their backs against couch as they flipped through magazines and ate chocolate ice cream from the tub.

"Hi, Mike," El said casually, bolting the door behind him with her mind.

"Hi, Mike," Max echoed as if the three of them had been chummy for ages.

A strong friendship continued to grow from there. Now, whenever El was not with Mike, she was with Max doing... well Mike was not exactly sure what girls did when they hung to together, but he knew it was all stuff he and the boys would not be interested in. For example, baking a birthday cake.

"You want to have cake?" Mike laughed, raising his eyebrows at Dustin. "I haven't even had breakfast yet, thanks to you."

"It's not my fault you slept in," Dustin fired back.

Nevertheless, Max and El lead the way into the kitchen, where a cake sat on the counter. Max was right, it was not the prettiest desert. The light blue frosting had begun sliding off and the whole thing tilted to one side, but presentation did not matter to Mike knowing that El had made it for him.

Fourteen candles stuck out of the top, plus a fifteenth for good luck. Max struck a match and began lighting them. As she did, his best friends broke out into a chorus of "Happy Birthday."

As they sung the song, Mike felt put on the spot. He realized he had noting to wish for. El was back and Will was safe. He had the best friends in the entire world, and his relationships with his parents and sisters had reached a good place. The bullies did not dare to bother him anymore after their run in with El two years back and he was starting high school next week. He turned these thoughts around in his mind trying to come up with something. Anything.

The singing stopped just as the idea came to him. El took Mike's hand and pulled him closer to the cake. As he leaned in to blow out the candles, he made his wish.

_I wish everything could stay exactly the same._


	5. The Boy with the Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me."  
> -F. Scott Fitzgerald

_TEN_ / The Boy with the Hair

Ten sat on the kitchen counter with a drink in her hand, distancing herself from the rest of the penthouse party of college aged kids. The bass of the music thumped in her chest like an echo of her heart as she rest her head against the cabinet and closed her eyes. She had never been one for parties.

"Is it past your bedtime?" asked a warm voice nearby.

When she lifted her head and opened her eyes, Ten realized the question was for her. A boy with long and floppy hair and a face beautiful enough for a pizza commercial stood before her. "Huh?"

He studied her face for a lingering moment before averting his attention to the task of poring himself another drink. "Sorry, that was a bad joke. It looked like you could have been sleeping."

She felt the corner of her mouth curl up into a half smile as she took a sip from her drink, though she probably did not need it. Her smaller frame was already feeling the buzz from the shots she took with Yaya.

"Not the party type?" the boy guessed.

Ten let out a small chuckle as she leaned her head back against the cabinet once again. "Is it that obvious?"

"Maybe not to everyone," he replied. Ten studied his careful movement as he screwed the metallic top back onto its bottle and tapped his fingers rhythmically against the glass. "But as someone who's also bored as fuck, I couldn't help but notice."

Ten's half smile spread into a full grin as she asked, "Then why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said, making eye contact with her for the second time.

"Good point," Ten told him, looking down into her cup.

"Mind if I join you?" the boy asked, sweeping his floppy hair out of his face as he hopped up on the counter next to her. With his forearms on his knees and his cup in both hands, he sat leaning forward. "My buddy from high school is starting college in a couple weeks so I'm helping him move into the building. His roommate invited us up, but they're over there doing their thing. I'm not really the party type anymore, either."

"No?" Ten asked. To her, he looked like your typical keg-loving frat boy.

"No," the boy chuckled. "I think I have PTSD from one I went to in high school.

Ten did not know what PTSD was, but she was also not about to ask. Instead she told him, "My friends dragged me here too... I've never been the party type."

"No?" he asked, looking back to her.

"No."

A moment passed in silence but he kept his gaze locked on hers. "You have the most incredible eyes," he told her with a straight-faced sincerity.

With a sharp intake of breath, Ten looked down at her lap and pulled her long sleeves down to her palms, forgetting how she was supposed to respond.

"Shit. Sorry, that probably sounded creepy. I bet you get that all the time and I didn't... I just meant that I've never seen someone with eyes that deep of a shade of blue before. It's actually kind of insane."

"Really?" she looked up at him through her eyelashes. Up until recently, Ten's life had been spent locked up in a room with her identical sister, who had a matching pair of sapphire irises. It had never truly occurred to her before that they were not common.

The boy smiled at her, even through his slightly confused expression. "Well yeah, look around. Name one person you've seen with eyes like that."

"My sister," Ten replied immediately.

He contemplated her answer for a moment. "Fair enough. What about someone you aren't related to?"

After narrowing her eyes at him and taking a moment to think, she settled on, "I'll get back to you."

"Fair enough," he repeated. He leaned back against the cabinet, causing Ten to realize that she no longer was. "So, do you go to college in the area?"

"No. Do you?" Ten replied simply, trying to shift the conversation as far away from her and her life as she possibly could. People liked to ask questions, she found. And a lot of them she did not have answers to.

The boy with the hair sighed. "No. My dad owns his own company in my hometown, it's like a two hour drive from here. I work for him and I babysit on the side."

Ten's eyebrows flew up her forehead. "You babysit?"

He laughed and nodded his head, the hair nodding with it.

" _You_ babysit?"

"Mostly just this one girl. Her dad's _super_ protective of her so when he's not around, I'm there," he explained with a shrug. "She's cool. But to be honest I think I'm more scared of her than she is of me."

Ten could not help but laugh at the thought of this college aged guy being afraid of a child. "You're scared of a little girl?"

"She's not little, she's like thirteen and... terrifying," he clarified, shaking his head.

"If she's not little, why does she need a babysitter?"

The boy took a long sip of his drink and looked down into his cup with raised eyebrows. "Like I said, super protective dad."

Ten nodded and thought of Papa. "I understand. What's her name?"

"Jane," he looked back up to her and studied her face once more. "What's yours?"

"Rose," she half lied.

"Pretty," he mused.

There was a drawn out pause. He sat looking at her with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips, as if he were expecting something.

"What?" she finally asked.

He chuckled. "You want to know the name of the thirteen-year-old girl I babysit, but you don't want to know mine?"

Ten found herself giggling, too. "Not particularly," she replied nonchalantly before finishing off her drink.

The boy put a hand over his chest. "I'm hurt, Rose." He was half joking, so she half smiled.

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine," she repeated, placing her empty cup on the white counter between them like a small barrier.

He looked at it for a moment before meeting her gaze with a furrowed brow. "Screw your cup," he said with humor-laced defiance, proceeding to flick the red plastic off of the counter and onto the floor. His face, unable to maintain the hard expression, softened into a grin. "Why don't you want to know my name?"

Truth be told, Ten did not like to let anyone get close. For as long as she had been in Indianapolis, she had only truly let her three friends in, but even then she kept herself at a comfortable distance from Yaya and Alisha, while even her best friend Tack was entirely unaware of her biggest secret. Losing Nine had been far too painful, and so she had vowed to herself never to let anyone get too close again. Especially not some random guy at a party who was bound to leave for home sometime soon.

But Ten did not know how to put these feelings into words, and even if she could it would be sharing too much. So instead she told him matter-of-factly. "You live two hours away."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, and she met his gaze seriously, like a staring contest, until she felt her face spread into a grin and a giggle bubbled up from deep inside of her chest. Instinctively, her hand flew to her mouth, covering her smile in an attempt to regain composure, which proved itself to be quite the feat with all of the alcohol in her system.

Her mood was evidently contagious, and the boy with the hair sitting next to her could not help but grin, too. "That's why you don't want to know my name? I live two hours away and because of that you don't want to know something as simple as my name." With a sigh he leaned forward onto his forearms. "You're beautiful as hell but I can't understand your logic."

Ten put her hands on the edge of the counter and leaned into them, taking the moment to study his features as he looked to the floor. _'Cute,_ _'_ she could not help but think, knowing Alisha would agree.

"It's Steve," he mumbled after a minute.

"Huh?"

He straightened his posture, looking her in the eye. "Steve. My name's Steve Harrington."

"Pretty," she parroted with a smirk.

Steve rolled his warm eyes and gave his new friend a playful nudge with his elbow. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" he joked.

"Ow," she laughed.

"Oh, come on, that couldn't have hurt."

"It did," she told him. "It hurt all of my feelings."

" _All_ of your feelings?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

 _'Shit,'_ she thought to herself. For the most part, Ten could easily form sentences, but that was not always the case. She still stumbled often and had a particularly hard time with common phrases. It also did not help that she was drunk.

But all of the concerns about her slip up were swept out of her mind when she noticed the scar above Steve's right eyebrow for the first time. Without thinking, she lifted her hand to run her fingers over it.

_"Get out," Steve warned, pushing Billy's chest with his battered hand. Steve's knuckles were spit and bloody to match Billy's upper lip._

_Billy paused for a moment before throwing a punch that Steve managed to dodge. He came up and immediately swung one of his own, nailing the boy in the eye. The kids all cheered Steve on as he continued to throw more jabs at their tormentor._

_Billy collided with the sink, and Steve let his guard down for just a second, long enough for Billy to grab a plate off the nearby counter and smash it over Steve's head._

Back in the present, Ten dropped her hand and noticed that the boy had been watching her intently.

"You okay?" Steve asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

"Huh?"

"You were like completely zoned out for a second there."

Before she had the chance to come up with some sort of excuse, the commotion began. The two snapped their heads toward the shouting in the living room.

Two figures faced each other in a screaming match. The one in black was taller, but the one in the white t-shirt was bigger and more muscular.

"Tack," Ten breathed to herself, leaping off of the counter and pushing her way through the growing crowd to get to her best friend.

"Rose, what are you - Rose! What the fuck?" she heard the boy with the hair, Steve, call after her.

But Ten was on a mission. She planted herself in front of Tack, pressing her back against his front so he stumbled just out of the way and raising to her tiptoes to create as much of a barrier as she possibly could, all in one fluid motion. And it was in perfect time. The big fist that had been swinging for Tack's jaw met Ten's eye instead, knocking her to the floor.

Everyone began shouting (Ten! Matt! Are you alright?! How the fuck could you hit a girl?! Holy shit, Ten, I'm _so_ sorry). Everyone surrounded her (Tack on one side, Yaya and Alisha on the other, even Steve had made his way through and positioned himself as a human barricade between the crowd and Ten's head).

But in the midst of all the madness, Ten was in the eye of the hurricane, blocking out the chaos like white noise. There was only one thing her mind could focus on: She had seen the future, and then she changed it.


	6. Double Feature

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There are no happy endings, only breaks between the action."  
> -Lauren Oliver

_MIKE_ / Double Feature

Sun shone through the small window of his basement, pulling Mike from his sleep. After the surprise party, the whole group headed back toward Mike's house for a round of D&D and a sleepover. It was a rare occasion to have the whole group there. Typically none of their parents ever agreed to having all six kids stay the night, but because it was Mike's birthday and summer vacation was coming to an end, Ted and Karen Wheeler made the exception.

Mike sat up and looked behind him to where El slept peacefully on the couch. Smiling to himself, he appreciated the way her breathing shallowed and her features relaxed, causing her to look more innocent than ever. If he had not known better, he would have never guessed the amount of destruction she was capable of.

Someone stirred across the room, and Mike turned his head toward the sound just in time to catch Max propping herself up on her elbow in her spot on the floor next to Lucas. She rubbed at her eye with the heel of her hand. "Hey."

"Morning," he mumbled, voice thick with exhaustion, before turning his attention back to El.

"Admiring your girlfriend?" Max whispered as she joined Mike on the floor near the couch, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs.

Heat rose in Mike's cheeks, tinting them pink. He hoped it was not obvious in the dim lighting of the basement. "She's not my girlfriend."

Max chuckled. "Then what is she?"

Mike sat on the challenge for a moment, turning all of the technicalities over in his mind. "She's..."

"Go on..."

"She's my... we're -" he began, but quickly cut himself off when El's eyes fluttered open. Quickly regaining her bearings, her eyes landed on Mike.

"Hi, Mike," she whispered with a small smile before reaching up fixing his bangs with her fingers. His hair must have gotten all messed up while he was sleeping. Typical. When she finished the task, he took her small hand in both of his.

"You were saying," Max pressed.

Mike gave her nothing more than an eye roll in response.

"I'm just saying, you might as well be," she told him, adding in a playful nudge to the side.

"Mike?" El whispered groggily.

"Yeah?"

"Are we still going to that thing today?"

Mike, himself, had almost forgotten about the tickets Nancy had given him, though he had been sure to ask El the night before if she wanted to go.

_"Is everyone going?" was the first thing El asked._

_"No, I uh..." Mike began, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. He had no reason to be nervous, but clearly that was not going to stop him. "I thought it could be, like uh, like a date."_

_Her bashful smile lit up her entire face. "Okay."_

"Yeah of course," he told her. "We just have to find a ride."

"What thing?" Max was quick to ask the couple.

"Star Wars double feature," Mike explained.

Both Max's smile and eyes widened simultaneously. "Oh, Lucas and I were planning on going, too! We could make it like a double date."

El beamed at the idea, and Mike smiled at the sight.

"But why do you guys need a ride?" Max questioned. "Where's Steve?"

After El closed the gate, Hopper hired Steve to be her "caretaker," which everyone joked was just another term for babysitter. Hopper hated the idea of leaving El alone or without supervision, and because Steve chose not to go to college, had already seen what the girl was capable of, and had even coined himself as a "pretty damn good babysitter," it was a perfect fit. Now, whenever Steve was not at his real job and Hopper was not yet home, Steve would be around "taking care of her" (which mostly meant hanging out, watching soap operas, and making Eggos). Mike would never admit it, but he was envious of all the time Steve got to spend with her. He could only imagine how much this jealousy would grow once classes started and Mike had to go off to high school every day wile El stayed back with Steve and her personal tutor.

"City," El told Max, sticking to the comfort of short phrases around her two closest companions. "Helping his friend move."

"Oh." The news somewhat supposed Max, who felt like Steve was always around, even if he was just waiting outside. She had never known him to keep many friends or travel more than a half an hour outside of Hawkins. "Well I'm sure my mom could drive us."

* * *

Sure enough, later that afternoon Mike found himself sandwiched between El and Lucas in the backseat of Mrs. Mayfield's car.

He found himself between the two once again as they took their seats in the theater.

Mike loved watching movies with El, not because he was a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise (which he admittedly was), but because he loved watching how El reacted. The way she engrossed herself in movies and television shows was nothing but endearing. Even if she had seen the film before, she laughed when something was funny, teared up when it was sad, or jumped when she got scared. She would squeeze Mike's hand tightly when things were suspenseful, and even tighter if there was a kiss.

For the most part, Lucas and Max spent their time giggling softly in between making out like most teenage couples at the movies, but Mike and El were different. She sat leaning forward, completely captivated by the story, while Mike was more than happy to sit back and watch her.

At one point during the second half, Mike's mind began wandering to Max's earlier comments. He squeezed El's hand, and even though her eyes remained glued to the screen she squeezed back. He was not sure she understood the concept boyfriends and girlfriends or how they were different from boy friends and girl friends. But then again, she watched a lot of TV, her babysitter was Steve Harrington, and spent plenty of girl time with Max.

In the middle of it all, he wondered what the big deal even was. El was not Mike's girlfriend, at least not officially; but he loved her, and he knew she loved him, too. For Mike, that was all he needed.

When the lights came up and the credits began to roll, El sat back, looking to Mike with a smile.

"Did you like it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Loved it." She leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"You two are cute," Lucas interrupted. "It almost makes me sick."

Max rolled her eyes and tugged at her boyfriend's sleeve as she stood. "Come on, you guys. My mom's probably waiting outside."

* * *

El rode on the back of Mike's bike all the way back to the cabin, just like she used to back when they had first found her almost two years ago.

_"Are you sure you don't need a ride, Jane?" Mrs. Mayfield asked when she dropped both El and Mike off at the Wheeler's. "It's getting dark."_

_"I'm sure. Thank you, though," El assured her, sticking to one of the latest Don't Be Stupid Rules: the fewer people who know where El lives, the better._

"Hopper isn't home yet?" Mike asked as he noticed the absence of her adoptive father's truck.

El shrugged. "Guess not."

She made her way up the front steps as Mike leaned his bike against the porch. "Do you want me to stay with you until he gets back?"

El nodded her head as Mike swallowed the new lump in his throat. He was not sure why he was so nervous, it was just El. _His_ El; But the fact that he never got to spend time with her completely alone combined with the fact that Hopper always made a habit of showing up at the worst possible moment set Mike on edge. _"Watch it, Wheeler,"_ he could already hear Hop warn in the back of his mind.

"Mike?" her soft voice had a harsh edge to it that ripped him from his train of thought.

He looked over to where she stood frozen in the doorway. "Yeah, El?"

She turned her face to him, fear evident in her wide eyes. "Someone's been here."


	7. Black & Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places."  
> -Roald Dhal

_TEN_ / Black & Blue

The next morning, Ten woke up on an unknown love seat. Which, to be fair, was not too out of the ordinary. Only she usually remembered how she got there, but this morning her mind was blanking.

She looked around the living room of the apartment she had never seen before and tried to sit up, but her head was heavy and pounding. Wincing agaist the pain, she collapsed back down on the couch.

The sound of someone someone shuffling through the space could be heard across the room. "Tack?" she guessed out loud.

"No, it's just me," Steve told her as he walked over with a glass of water and some Advil. He was shirtless, wearing only black and blue plaid pajama pants, but his hair was still perfect. It made Ten wonder if it always looked like that, or if he just had not gotten any sleep.

Ten managed to sit up fully, cradling her throbbing head with her hand. The memories of the night before came flooding back to her, but everything that happened after she got punched was still fuzzy, if not gone entirely.

"You alright? He got you pretty good," Steve asked, handing her the water and medicine, which she accepted gratefully.

"My head..." she began. Steve nodded in sincere understanding, taking the seat next to her on the small couch. "Where am I?"

"My friends apartment," he explained, taking a look around himself. "Your friends and I brought you here after everything happened. Couldn't really get you anywhere else."

 _Tack_. Ten looked around the small space for the friend she tried to save, as if he would pop out from a corer at any moment.

"They went to get food," Steve explained without Ten having to ask. Leaning forward in his seat, he directed his attention at the floor.

Ten nodded. As she finished her water, she placed her hand on Steve's bare shoulder and searched for the answers to questions she felt too weak to ask.

_Steve carried a half-concious Rose down the hallway of the apartment_ _complex as her friends followed close behind. "This one," he told the tan girl with the denim jacket. She put the key he had given her into the lock and fumbled with the knob._

_"Do you need help, Yaya?" asked the girl with deep skin and a Metallica t-shirt. The tall and newly heartbroken guy with covered in tattoos blubbered incoherently in her arms._

_"I got it," denim jacket girl claimed, and right on cue the door swung open and the group followed Steve into the small apartment._

_"Ice?" Metallica shirt asked._

_Steve jerked his chin in the direction of the kitchen as he made a beeline for the living room, laying the stranger he had just met less than an hour ago on Nate's love seat. Little did he know less than an hour ago that this stranger was the type of crazy that would step into the middle of a fist fight just to spare her closest friend. But then again, wasn't Steve that kind of crazy, too?_

_A bruise had already started budding on the outer perimeter of Rose's eye socket. Steve, trying to be as gentle as possible, reached up and brushed his fingers over the swelling. He saw something flash behind the girl's deep blue eyes while she simultaneously winced under his touch._

_"Shit, sorry," he was quick to apologize, pulling his hand away. "Sorry."_

_The girl in the Metallica t-shirt rushed over, ice pack in hand. Steve moved out of the way so she could hold the ice pack to Rose's eye. "Hey, you alright?" she asked her._

_The girl on the couch let out a small moan in response._

_"I know, babe, I'm sorry." Metallica girl comforted before turning to face Steve. "Thank you, by the way. We really appreciate you helping us out. I'm Alisha."_

_"Steve."_

Ten dropped her hand from Steve's shoulder and moved it to her eye, still tender and swollen. "Is it bad?" she asked Steve when he turned his head to look.

He hooked his finger under her chin and tilted her head to get a better look at the injury. This time when he touched her, she pushed his memories away. It always took a lot out of her and she ended up with a nose bleed every time, but it was a skill she had taught herself back when she started to see the bad things Papa would do to people. She had known he was evil, but that never meant she wanted to watch it.

"It's not _that_ bad," Steve said, but she could see the dishonesty in his voice and raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, it's kinda bad, but it'll heal in a week or two."

He smiled at her assuringly, and Ten felt herself mirror it. With his thumb still on her chin, he moved it up just enough to trace the outer curve of her lower lip. Not expecting the movement, her intake of breath was a little too sharp, and with that he dropped his hand back into his lap.

A small drip of blood creeped from her nostril the moment he let go. "Sorry," she mumbled, dabbing it away quickly with her sleeve.

"No big deal." Steve shrugged as if he understood the struggle of frequent nosebleeds. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she assured with a sniffle, pulling her sleeves down to her palms. "I get them all the time."

He nodded and allowed a beat to pass. "Are you hungry?"

For the first time that morning, she realized she was. "Very."

Steve nodded in agreement. "They don't have much here, but there's this really good place across the street. I'll get you whatever you want." And with that he smiled and got up to go put on clothes.

"Steve," Ten called after him before he left the room. He turned back to look at her, eyebrows raised expectantly for the question to come. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

He blinked at her, then smirked. "Because I like you, Rose," he told her matter-of-factly before turning and walking into one of the bedrooms.

Ten felt the heat rise in her cheeks. He _liked_ her? Tack and Yaya were always talking about who they "liked" and who they were "talking to," but did Steve mean it in the same way they did? As she waited on his friends couch, she tried not to think about it. Her heart kept tossing the idea around, but her head told her not to let him in, reminding her that they barely knew each other. That no one could every truly know her ever again.

Steve had changed quickly, re-emerging in jeans and a striped polo, holding a white shirt t-shirt in his hand. "Did you want to change, too?"

Looking down at one of Yaya's old black shirts that Alisha had cropped for her, Ten could not help but remember how much she had been sweating in the summer heat lately. "I probably should."

He held the shirt out toward her and she accepted it gratefully.

* * *

Ten looked like she was drowning in Steve's oversized shirt as the two sat at a table outside the breakfast place. Steve had strategically chosen an outdoor seat so that the sunglasses she had borrowed to hide her black and blue eye looked inconspicuous, even though the temperature was hot enough to make Ten wonder if it would ever get cold outside again.

She sat rolling up the long sleeves just enough for her hands to poke out while Steve just observed without her noticing. He chuckled to himself as he took a sip of his water.

"What?" she asked, wanting to be in on the joke.

"You stepped in the middle of a fight last night and it was kinda badass, and then this morning you're just adorable," he told her point blank.

It caused something to flutter in the pit of her stomach, but she just chose to ignore it, opting to chew her lower lip as she looked down to her hands in her lap, absentmindedly running her thumb over the "010" tattoo on her wrist; the only mark that easily differentiated her from her identical sister.

The waitress came back with their food and Ten immediately started shoveling it in her mouth. It was not often that she and her friends ate meals, sticking snacks that were either affordable enough to buy with the little money they had, or small enough to take without paying for.

"Whoa, slow down," Steve laughed. "Do your parents forget to feed you?"

"Sorry," she mumbled through a mouthful of toast.

When she reached with her left hand to pick up her drink, her loose shirt sleeve slid back, exposing both the lower half of her forearm and her tattoo. Ten did not think anything of it, and never usually did (Tack had tons of tattoos that were all big and colorful and much more interesting). But Steve noticed as soon as she lifted the cup to her lips and the summer flush in his cheeks was quick to drain to a pale white.

"No fucking way," he whispered to himself when she put the glass back down. He grabbed her hand, pulling it toward him and turning it over to expose the branding on the inside of her wrist.

_Two perfectly cooked Eggo waffles popped out of the toaster in the microscopic kitchen of the tiny wooden cabin. Steve grabbed a waffle, but quickly dropped it on the counter. "Shit," he cursed, shaking out his burnt fingers. After a moment he sucked it up and got both waffles on the plate._

_He turned to the young girl with short brown hair as she studied her textbooks at the kitchen table. "Do you want whipped cream, Jane?"_

_She nodded in response, and Steve swung open the refrigerator door, grabbing the can. As he walked over with her food, the girls eyes remained glued to the page of her textbook while her thumb ran absentmindedly over the "011" tattoo on the inside of her wrist._

Ten was not going to wait for him to let go. Pushing his memory out go her mind, a drop of blood slid down her upper lip. She returned to the present to discover Steve shaking his head in disbelief as he ran a finger over Ten's tattoo. It was like he was trying to make sure that it was real. That _she_ was real.

"Eleven," Ten breathed. "You know Eleven."


	8. The Memory Reader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose."  
> -Anne Bronte

_STEVE /_ The Memory-Reader

The day Steve chaperoned Mike, Lucas, Max, and Dustin's trip to the Upside Down was easily the strangest day in Steve Harrington's short life. Finding Ten, however, was a close second.

_He just could not stop staring at the tattoo, not knowing what to make of it. What should he make of it? What was a normal reaction to this? Could it just be a coincidence? What if she just_ really _likes the number ten?_

_"Eleven. You know Eleven." It wasn't a question._

_He turned to look at her face, blue eyes still masked by his Ray Bans, as she leaned back in her seat, pulling her arm out of his grip and dabbing away her nosebleed._

_Her fucking_ nosebleed _. How was this happening?_

_"You know Eleven," she softly said again, to herself this time, shaking her head in disbelief, the corner of her mouth curving up into an thoughtful smirk._

_But somehow, someway, that did not seem nearly as crazy to Steve as, "Jesus Christ, Rose. You're_ Ten _."_

_Time stood still as they studied each others faces. He had know way of keeping track of how long they remained silent like that until Rose let out a small giggle, shaking her head again. And soon Steve found himself chuckling along at the outrageousness of it all, too. And before they knew it, they were full-on laughing like two six-year-olds on Christmas morning because they did not know what else to do._

It had been less than twenty four hours since he had met her, but now the cute city girl he had just wanted to flirt with at a party sat in the passenger seat of his dad's old BMW as he drove the two back to his sleepy hometown of Hawkins, Indiana.

It was all so crazy and unexpected to the point that Steve was half-expecting to wake up in his bed at any moment, or for Rose to disappear entirely; but she never did, and at this point he knew it was best to just go along with these kinds of things.

It was just after dark and the two hour drive was almost over when Steve realized he still had so many questions. "So you can read minds?" he asked, surprising himself at how casually the question came out. He had wanted to know how Rose, or Ten, had known about him knowing Eleven.

Rose smiled to herself. "Not exactly. I can see the past - a memory reader, I guess is a better way to explain it."

The longer Steve sat on the idea, the further his brows drew toward each other, trying to make sense of what that could mean. "How does that work?"

"If I touch someone's skin, a memory of theirs just comes to me. I see it the same way they lived it," she tried to clarify. He looked over to her and the confusion must have been evident on his face. "Do you trust me, Steve?"

"We wouldn't be here right now if I didn't - so yes. Why?

"Give me your hand," she instructed, holding her own out for him.

Hesitantly, Steve placed his palm in Rose's, their fingers lacing together. Almost immediately, something flashed behind her eyes ( _'Those damn eyes,'_ Steve thought), and her expression fell blank. She looked completely zoned out, exactly how she had looked at the party when she traced a finger over his scar. Although she sat completely still, he felt he needed to watch her, but he fought his instinct and kept his eyes on the road and his fingers intertwined with hers.

They stayed like that for only a handful of seconds, though to Steve it felt like a whole half hour had come and gone. Rose pulled her hand from under his as her face came back to life.

She turned her attention out the window, long enough for Steve to wonder if she was ever going to say something, but after a few moments she did. "You were little. Your mother was driving and you were dancing to the radio in the back seat. She turned around to look at you and before you knew it, the front end of your car was in the back of another."

Although Steve had been eight at the time, he remembered the car accident like it was yesterday.

"But before that - it was weird, it just shifted suddenly - you were back at the party and you hopped up on the counter next to me and," Rose laughed melodically, "You started talking, but you don't even remember what you were saying. You just kept repeating _'act like you don't care'_ over and over in your head until you noticed the color of my eyes -"

"Those damn eyes," Steve finished for her, shaking his head.

"Exactly."

He glanced over at her, and she was still looking out of the window while she smiled softly to herself, taking in the small town as it flew past. In his head, he began to connect the pieces. When he put his hand in hers, he had been thinking about her eyes and keeping his on the road, and that was exactly what she had seen. "Is it random?"

"Huh?" she asked, returning her attention to the inside of the vehicle.

"Are the memories that come up for you random?" he elaborated, turning the corner into the driveway of his small townhouse apartment.

"For the most part," she shrugged. "I can search for something specific if I really want to, but I have to know what I'm looking for."

"I wanna try something," he told her, cutting the engine. He shifted in his seat to face her, his eyes meeting her eager ones. She nodded as she chewed her lower lip, a habit that distracted him momentarily every time. He held his hand out. "Just tell me what you see."

Rose was hesitant for a moment, then closed her eyes and placed her hand in Steve's. Her expression went blank as Steve put all of his concentration into the memory he had of her from earlier that morning.

_He felt her warm touch on his bare shoulder, but did not want to turn because maybe then she would pull her hand away. So, for a moment, Steve sat staring at the floor until the hand disappeared on its own. He turned and found the girl with the short hair and button nose running her fingers over the bruise on her face._

_"Is it bad?" Rose asked._

_He gently tilted her face to get a better look, but was distracted by the smooth skin of her cheekbone rather than the colors it had turned overnight. Even with a black eye she was gorgeous, though he wondered if anyone had ever told her. She certainly did not act like any of the girls who were pretty but knew it._

_With a deep inhale he returned to the task at hand. "It's not that bad," he tried to soften the blow, but Rose was proving herself to be a no bullshit kind of girl and immediately raised an eyebrow at his tone. "Okay it's kind of bad, but it'll heal in a week or two."_

_He smiled at her and she smiled back in that eat-your-heart-out-Kim-Basinger way of hers because her mouth was perfect, which sounded weird, but it was true. It also caused a swarm of butterflies to attack his gut like he was twelve years old again, but that was all easy to ignore when he was too busy not thinking. Rather, he found himself tracing his thumb against the bottom edge of her curved lip._

Rose pulled her hand away from Steve's and brought her fingers to her lips, a small crease forming between her brows. Neither had to say anything for them to know it had worked.

"You're amazing," he told her without thinking, because it was true.

"Steve -" she started, but before she could finish, someone began frantically knocking on the drivers side window, causing both she and Steve to jump.

When he turned his head to look, Steve could not say he was surprised by the cause of the disruption. "Yeah, it's me, don't cream your pants," he joked as he got out of the car, pulling Dustin in for a short hug. "What do you want, Henderson?"

"Who the fuck is she?" Dustin muttered just loud enough for Steve to hear, ignoring the question.

Steve looked over to see Rose had also emerged from the car. She smiled at Dustin who, when Steve turned back to face him, continued to stare.

"First of all," Steve began in a low voice, causing Dustin to shift his attention back toward him. "You need to start watching your language. Second of all, you don't get to show up at my house and start asking questions. Are we clear?"

Dustin narrowed his eyes at Steve. "Crystal."

"Great, now why are you here?"

"Hopper sent me down from the station to wait for you. Says he needs you to call him as soon as possible."

"Did he say why?" Steve raised an eyebrow at the curly-haired boy.

"Just that it's urgent."

_'Jane's been hurt,'_ was Steve's first and only thought, and a bolt of adrenaline spiked his veins. He started toward the townhouse, taking the stairs up to the front door two at a time. He did not bother to close the door behind him, knowing Dustin and Rose would be on their way in after him, as he beelined for the phone on the wall and punched in the number for the police station.

The line rung twice before the receptionist answered. "Hawkins Police Department."

"Hey, it's Steve Harrington. Is Hopper there?"

The receptionist sighed. "One moment," she told him before placing him on hold.

Dustin entered, followed by Rose as Steve waited for the chief to take his call. "Rose, that's Dustin. Dustin, this is Ten."

Dustin's jaw fell, eyes darting between Steve and his new friend. "Ten? as in zero-one-zero?" he asked, referring to the format of Eleven's tattoo.

"Yes, now stop being weird," Steve instructed.

Dustin ignored him and proceeded to ask Rose, "So... can you, like, throw things with your mind, too?"

" _Dustin._ "

"No," was all Rose gave him.

On the other end of the phone, Steve heard the rustling of someone picking up the receiver. "Harrington," Hopper answered.

"Hey, Hopper, Dustin's here. He told me to call you as soon as possible. Is Jane okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. She's okay. Listen, kid," Steve could hear the stress in Hopper's voice even as he began to speak lower, so on one could overhear. "There's been a break in at the cabin, and I need Jane to stay somewhere safe until I figure it all out. I know you can protect her and -"

"She can stay with me. I'll keep an eye on her," Steve assured. Hopper let out a small sigh of relief as Steve took in a deep breath of his own. "Just one thing," he began, looking at Rose who had been watching him intently the whole time. "There's something you need to know, but I think you need to find out in person. How soon can you get here?"

_'Can this day get any stranger?'_ Steve thought to himself.

"I can't believe this," Dustin muttered, the shock setting in as he turned the new information over in his mind. "First it's Eleven, then Eight's in Chicago, now Ten's here... Who's next? Nine?"

"Nine's gone," Ten whispered, pulling the sleeves of her borrowed shirt down over her hands.

Not only was it an answer to Dustin's rhetorical question, but also to Steve's unspoken one. It definitely could get stranger, and Steve was foolish to think otherwise.


	9. Sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there."  
> -Rumi

_TEN_ / Sister

The phone rang four times before the man she assumed was Greg picked up. After Steve got off the phone with Hopper, Ten asked if she could call her friends and make sure they were okay. Greg, Alisha's current boyfriend, was her best bet, especially this late in the day.

"Hey, it's Ten. Is Alisha there?" she asked, idly wrapping the phone chord around her finger.

"Yeah, just a sec."

There was a pause as Greg grabbed Alisha. Ten took the moment to look up at Steve with a small smile and a nod. If you asked her, Ten would not be able to tell you why she trusted a complete stranger the way she trusted Steve. Maybe it was the honesty in his eyes. Maybe it was the fact that he knew Eleven. Or maybe it was the swift punch to the face that killed some brain cells. Either way, she felt she could let him in more than anyone she had ever met since Nine.

"Ten?" a concerned Alisha asked on the other end of the line.

"Alisha, hey -"

"Where the fuck have you been, babe? We've been looking all over for you!"

"I know, I know. I'm really sorry."

"Tack threw up, he was so stressed. Where are you?"

"It's a long story, I can explain when I get back. How is Tack?"

"Tack's a mess, but that's nothing new." Ten could not help but laugh at that. "Get back from where, Ten? Where are you?"

Ten sighed, not too sure how she was supposed to explain getting in the car with a guy she had met the night before and driving two hours to suburban Indiana just to see if her fellow science experiment wanted to meet her. "I'm -"

Something shifted on the other end of the phone, as if someone were grabbing the receiver out of Alisha's hand. "Rose, what the fuck?" Sure enough, it was Tack, stressed and disappointed.

"Tack," Ten breathed with a spreading smile. "Are you okay? Have you heard from that guy at all?"

"This isn't about me, Rose. Where are you? I'll come get you wherever, just tell me where."

"No, no. I'm fine, I'm with Steve -"

"Steve? The guy from last night?" Ten looked up again at the boy in question as he sat listening to her side of the conversation.

Yaya yelled something in the background, though Ten could not make out her words.

"Yes, Tack. Please just listen." She paused for a moment, making sure he was. "Tack, I think I found my sister." Ten was not sure what other term would be appropriate, but for now "sister" would work.

"What? I thought your sister was... gone." Tack hesitated before deciding the best word to use.

"No, not Nine. Like, uh... like a little sister."

"I didn't know you had a little sister."

"Neither did I. I'm two hours away from Indy right now but I'll explain everything when I get back."

Tack sighed. "When will that be, Rose?"

"Honestly," Ten paused to think it over, but came up short, "I don't know. But I will see you soon, and I'll tell you everything. I swear."

"Okay," Tack finally settled. The two best friends sat in silence for a moment, and then a moment more. "Ten?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for taking that hit for me. I don't know how your crazy ass saw it coming, but thank you."

"Yeah, of course... I'll see you guys soon."

"Soon," Tack repeated.

A smile flickered across Ten's lips as the line went dead. She hung up the receiver on the wall and turned to Steve, who had made his way over. He put his hands on her shoulders, where they were safely covered by clothing, a barrier between his touch and her powers.

Tears welled up in her eyes; she hated the idea of being a cause of stress to the people she loved most. She dabbed them away before they had the chance to slip down her cheeks while offering Steve a reassuring smile.

"You okay?" he asked, searching for the answer in her eyes.

"Yes."

"You have a friend named _Tack_?" the younger boy, Dustin, chimed in.

"Dustin -" Steve started.

"Yes," Ten giggled, recalling the origin of his name. "Because he's a prick."

This earned a laugh from both boys, but they were soon interrupted by a knock on the door, and a sense of seriousness was quick to wash over the room.

"Hopper," Steve announced. "Dustin, answer it. Rose, you're gonna have to wait in the bedroom for a minute." As Dustin headed for the front door, Steve grabbed Ten's hand and pulled her further into the apartment.

_Steve stood alone in the old junkyard. Those four-legged_ things _crept up on Steve from all sides. Adrenaline pumping, he began fighting a few off with the nailed bat before collapsing into the safety_ _of the abandoned bus._

The same _things_ that had taken Ten's sister. As she pulled her hand away, her knees went weak at the thought.

"Whoa," Steve breathed as he caught her by the waist. "Sorry, that was my bad. Guess I forgot." He lead her the rest of the way to the bed, where he sat her down. "Are you sure you're okay?"

After the vision she had just seen, she looked into his hazel eyes with a deeper admiration. "I'm sure."

Steve nodded. "Wait here. I'll be right back," he said before turning to leave the room.

"Steve," Ten called softly, grabbing his wrist and pushing his visions away before he could make it very far. He turned to face her. "Thank you."

"Yeah, of course," she said with sincerity. She dropped his arm and dabbed her nosebleed while he made his exit.

Ten sat and studied the room. She had come to find that it is easy to tell a lot about a person by looking at where they spend time alone. At house parties in the city she used to like to sneak into bedrooms just too look around and imagine what kind of person lived there, but she had never seen one quite like Steve's. He had a large bed that filled most of the space and a dresser pushed up against the opposite wall, but other than the basics, the room was bare. No pictures or books or plants. No records or posters or souvenirs, either. Just an alarm clock on the nightstand and a small jar of coins on the dresser and discarded clothes draped over a chair in the corner. The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary was a baseball bat spiked with nails - the exact one from the memory she had just seen - propped up against the wall by the far window. She wondered what it meant that he did not keep trinkets of his past around, or at least in sight, but before she had the chance to think about it too much, Steve returned.

He was followed by an older man in a beige police uniform who shut the door behind him.

"This is Chief Hopper." Steve gestured to him. "He's Eleven's father. Hop, this is Ten. She goes by Rose."

"Okay, Rose," Hopper began, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing the girl on the bed. "What's your story?"

Ten sighed under the weight of the loaded question, but she did her best to explain everything to the man. She started by showing him her tattoo. She explained how she was Ten and could see the past and that her identical twin was Nine and could see the future and how it all worked. She explained what Nine had said she had seen as well the plan they had formulated. She relived her sister's death the night the lab was taken down by monsters, and how she had no other choice but to run, so that's exactly what she did. She told him how she ran for days until she reached Indianapolis. How she ran into Tack and he and his friends took her in and taught her everything she needed to know, because although they had never grown up in a lab, they knew exactly what it meant to break and start over. Finally, she described meeting Steve, and the short series of events that lead them up to the moment they were in now.

The two men stood and listened until Ten was out of breath; she had never talked so much at once before. Then the three of them sat in perfect silence as Hopper and Steve processed all of the new information.

"Listen, kid," Hopper began, the first to break the silence. "Let me talk to her. If Jane wants to meet you then she can, but if she doesn't then it's not happening. Understand?"

"Yes," Ten said, nodding in agreement.

"You two stay here," he directed before leaving them alone, shutting the door behind him.

"Ten and Nine," Steve mused, still turning over the whole idea of twins in his mind.

"Nine and Ten," the latter twin was quick to correct.

With a smirk, he plopped down on the bed next to her. "What was she like?"

"Better than me," Ten chuckled, "in every way."

"What makes you think that?"

She shrugged. "Papa liked her more. Her ability was more useful to him. She was stronger and smarter than me, too. It kinda feels like I just dragged her down."

"You can't think like that, Rose." Her brow creased at him. "I mean, I'm sure Nine was awesome, but so are you." He briefly leaned his shoulder against hers. "And not just because of your powers. Like, what you did for Tack was incredible."

Ten felt her face spread into a grin and watched his own light up as he mirrored the expression.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered, almost to himself as if he had been thinking out loud.

But Ten had no time to react. Because just as the words left his mouth there was a knock on the door. Hopper opened the door and let himself in the room, followed by a girl with shoulder length hair and wide eyes. The girl she recognized as Jane from Steve's memory.

Ten stood when she the girl, their eyes studying each other with curiosity. Jane crossed the short distance in just a few strides, immediately reaching for Ten's arm, pulling it up from her side, and exposing her branding. 010.

_Eleven slumped against the cold steel wall, weak and crying in the corner of the isolation room. Two men lay dead at the entrance. Papa stepped over their bodies, examining the scene as he made his way over to Eleven. His cold hands cupped her small face. "Incredible," he praised._

Jane let go of Ten's arm as she raised her own to reveal her matching tattoo. 011.

010 and 011. 011 and 010. Two segments of a sequence that belonged next to each other, they had been bonded together since the numbers were first inked. Yet this was the first time they were ever meeting.

"Sister," Jane said so softly it was almost a whisper. But there was something else there, too. Something in her voice that made it seem like they had lived a thousand lives together. She raised her eyes to meet Ten's, smiling a toothy and youthful and wrapping her in a hug.

"Yes," Ten whispered as she hugged the younger girl back. "Sister." Tears threatened to overflow as she wished Nine was here to meet Jane, too, and the three of them could be sisters together.


	10. What Lies Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "See the world as it is, not as you wish it to be."  
> -E. Lockhart

_ELEVEN_ / What Lies Ahead

When El woke up late the next morning, she had forgotten where she was and why, until the events of the night before came rushing back to her all at once.

After the break-in at the cabin, Hopper needed a safe place for his daughter to stay, so he called Steve, a man he knew could protect her. When El, Mike, and Hopper arrived at his apartment, the kids were instructed to stay in the living room while Steve took Hop to the back bedroom to talk.

"What do you think is going on?" Mike asked El, who could only shrug in response.

"There's a girl," Dustin was quick to offer, raising his eyebrows playfully.

"A girl?" Mike questioned.

"Yes. A girl with short hair and a black eye. Says her name's Ten."

El's eyes widened. "A sister?"

Dustin nodded. "I think so."

When Hopper reappeared a little while later, he asked if El wanted to meet Ten. She said yes almost immediately and continued to say yes while Hopper attempted to weigh pros and cons with her. "I want to meet her," she firmly insisted.

She and Ten stayed up late talking after that. El told Ten about the party and Hopper, and Ten told El about Nine and Indianapolis. Then Ten watched as El flickered the lights and made small objects float through space with her mind. El watched with fascination as Ten looked to her past with her eyes closed. When she opened them, Ten was able to tell El how she watched her escape from the Lab, eventually ending up at Mike's home.

_Mike._ He had been there last night, but El was not sure when he had left.

After rolling herself out of the bed in Steve's cramped guest room, she made her way out to the kitchen. Seating herself at the two-person table, she watched as Steve pulled together a breakfast of eggs, Eggos, and orange juice.

"Whipped cream?" Steve turned and asked, skipping the casualty of a "good morning" greeting.

El nodded her head as he placed her plate in front of her, ruffling her hair before turning and grabbing the can of whipped cream from the fridge. He took the seat across from her with nothing but a cup of coffee for himself.

"No food?" El questioned.

"Not hungry." Steve sipped from his mug.

A smirk grew slowly over El's face as her mind pieced together all the evidence she had gathered the night before. Steve was already protective of Ten. In a room full of people he liked to be near her. And when he was, he smiled as wide as Dustin did around Nancy and looked at her the way Lucas admired Max. At this point, El knew Steve well enough to conclude that Ten made him feel the same way Mike made her feel. And it was not just him; the subtleties of Ten's actions were obvious to anyone who cared to pay attention. It was all in the way her eyes gleamed when she talked to him, and how she would relax by his side and tense up when he was gone. "She makes you feel fuzzy," El decided.

"What?" Steve asked. It had been too damn early for him to deal with the girl's cryptically blunt statements.

"Ten. You like her," El clarified as she chewed her Eggo. "More than a friend."

She watched as Steve's cheeks reddened, and her smile only grew from knowing she was right. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a word out, El was already cutting him off. "Friends don't lie."

Steve leaned into the table with his elbows, running a hand trough his hair with a sigh. "No comment."

"You two are cute," El giggled, mimicking Lucas from just the day before. Although, thanks to more recent events, yesterday felt like a lifetime ago.

Steve rolled his eyes at her while smirking to himself. "Just eat your damn breakfast."

She took a large bite of her toaster waffle and watched Steve's eyes light up as Ten rounded the corner into the kitchen. El wiggled her eyebrows at him to further her point, but his attention was already too far gone.

"Hey," he greeted Ten with a smile, standing up from his seat. "Are you hungry?"

Ten nodded as she stifled a yawn, moving further into the kitchen.

"I got it. You can sit." He gestured toward the seat he had just abandoned.

She blinked at him once before accepting the offer.

El smiled at her new sister as she sat down. She looked Ten, or Rose as everyone seemed to be calling her, a lot. The experience was entirely different from meeting Kali, mostly because they were two completely different people. Ten was soft where Kali had hardened, empathetic where Kali was self-centered. She wanted to be El's friend, not her partner in crime. There was an innocence in her eyes but a deep wisdom in her heart that El could not put into words, but wondered if she had some of it in her, too.

"Good morning, _Rose_ ," El greeted.

"Good morning, _Jane_ ," Ten returned with a soft giggle as they both soaked in the foreign feeling of normalcy that washed over them. This was how regular people lived: eating breakfast together at kitchen tables in sleepy suburbs, tossing around lighthearted jokes and calling each other real names that had been given to them by loved ones, rather than identification numbers given to them by an evil man who called himself their father. Ten and El shared a smile, a knowing smile, as they basked in the simplicity of the mundane.

"Thank you," Ten told Steve as he set her breakfast on the table in front of her. El had been growing to appreciate the sincerity in the words she spoke. Everyone El was closest to (Hop, Steve, Mike, and the rest of the party) liked to lace their words with sarcasm and mockery, sometimes to the point where El had trouble telling whether or not they were being serious. Ten, however, seemed to keep her words genuine, only saying exactly what she meant. And whole she still liked to joke around, it was not the same way as everyone else, so El did not have to guess.

"Have you ever had Eggos?" El asked curiously, making the attempt to speak in full sentences in front of Steve. He was more lenient about it than the other adults, but the grown ups who called her Jane also liked her to talk like a normal person.

Ten shook her head no and El's eyes went wide.

Steve chuckled at the expression. "Eggos are all Jane eats," Steve exaggerated as he leaned back against the kitchen counter and finished off his first cup of coffee.

"Do not!" El argued with a grin.

"Do too," Steve teased before an idea flashed across his face. Setting his mug down, he offered his hand to Ten. "And I can prove it."

Ten's eyes danced back and forth between El's and Steve's before she placed her hand in his and accepted his vision.

El rolled her eyes at Steve, who moved to ruffle her hair with is free hand, but she swatted him away. "Leave me alone," she chuckled.

Ten drew her hand away from Steve's, pausing a moment before admitting, "That _is_ a lot." Picking up her fork she took a bite of her own food.

Steve laughed victoriously and El shook her head as she chewed her Eggo. "Unfair," she protested, extending her hand across the table. "I can prove him wrong."

Ten shoveled another bite of breakfast into her mouth before placing her hand in El's.

"Mouth breather," El playfully jabbed at Steve.

"Don't make me take your Eggos away," Steve warned, narrowing his eyes. And with that, El sat back in her chair and shut her mouth, but continued to smile to herself knowing he would never.

"Papa," Ten breathed when she come back. She lifted her eyes, flooding with fear, to meet El's. "Papa's looking for you."

Nausea set in immediately, before El even had the chance to process the words. Her heart sunk to the pit of her stomach, draining the blood from her face. "What?"

"It's Mike," Ten said, her voice becoming shaky. "I saw him follow Mike to get to you. I think he's the one who broke into your home."

_Mike_. Was it possible to feel every emotion at once? Evidently it was as anger swelled in El's chest and fear bubbled in her throat whole her face just read confusion. Because none of it made sense. Papa was dead. Right?

"What do you mean you saw him?" Steve asked as he crouched down next to Ten and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I saw the future," she tried to to explain to him.

"The future? How? How do you know?"

"I've seen it before with Tack. And I changed it... I'm not sure how, but I know it's because of Nine." A look of realization washed over Steve as he studied her bruised eye with newfound understanding.

El, however, was not so comprehending. "Papa is dead," she stated softly, but even she could hear the heavy doubt in her own voice. Kali had been convinced that he was still out there, and El had been stupid to think she was wrong. Already, the plan was clear in her head: Keep Mike away at all costs. For his safety, and their own.


	11. She Promised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The responsibility of love: To keep another's heart safe."  
> -Bridgett Devoue

_MIKE_ / She Promised

"She found _another_ sister?" Even after the events of the last few years, Lucas was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. But then again, there were at least eleven of them out there.

"Yeah, and she's _smokin'_ hot," confirmed Dustin as he bragged about being the first to meet her. It was the next day, and the boys all gathered in the Wheeler's basement to discuss theories about Ten and her sudden appearance in Steve's life. "Easily a ten out of ten, no pun intended."

"Wheeler?" Lucas called on Mike to back up Dustin's statement.

"I didn't meet her," Mike admitted.

"Why not?" Will asked him.

He shrugged. "I went over and she was in the back and Hopper went to talk to her. Then he came back out to take El to meet her and sent Dustin and me home. I'll probably meet her today, though, I want to see hoe El is holding up after the break-in last night."

"Oh!" Dustin perked up. "Can I come?"

Mike shot his curly haired friend a look.

"Come on, Mike. You'll be with El and Steve will be with Rose and someone's gotta chaperone." Dustin's comment only deepened Mike's glare.

"Rose?" Will and Lucas chimed in simultaneously.

"Yeah, that's her name. I think." Dustin explained. "At least that's what Steve calls her."

"Are they... together?" asked Will.

"I don't think so," Mike responds.

Dustin scoffs. "You didn't see the way he hovered, Mike. They're totally doin' it."

"When he touches her the movie of his sad life plays in his head. They couldn't possibly be 'doin' it,'" Mike argued with a roll of his eyes.

Dustin was visibly taken aback by this realization, and needed a moment to think Mike's comment through before responding. "Shit, you're right."

"His life is sad?" Will interjected.

"Well yeah, think about it. He was 'King Steve' until Billy showed up, then my sister dumped him for Jonathan, no offense, Will -"

"None taken."

"- and now he's stuck in Hawkins as a nineteen-year-old babysitter whose only friend isn't even a freshman in high school." Mike grinned as he put a hand on Dustin's shoulder.

Will and Lucas laughed, but Dustin did not find the truth so funny. "Yeah, ha ha. You guys are real assholes."

"Mike!" Mrs. Wheeler called down the basement stairs. "Phone's for you."

"Coming!" he called back as he got up to make his way upstairs.

"You said she's a ten out of ten?" Will asked Dustin as Mike exited the room.

"Oh, easily. Just wait 'til you meet her -"

Mike shook his head at his friends as closed the basement door behind him, making his way to the kitchen where his mother stood cradling the phone to her shoulder. "Jane," she mouthed, passing her son the receiver and stepping out of the room.

"Hello?" Mike said into the phone.

"Mike," a familiar yet broken voice came from the other end. There was something in her tone that Mike could not put his finger on. Sadness? Fear? He could not tell yet. Either way, he knew something was not right.

"El? El, are you okay?" he asked concernedly as he wrapped the cord around the corner of the hall, pulling the phone into the bathroom for more privacy.

El let out a heart-shattering sob that caused Mike to collapse to the floor at the base of the sink. He could not stand the thought of her being hurt like this. "El, what's wrong? Talk to me." There was a pause, but still no reply. Mike scrambled to get to his feet again. "El, I'm on my way. You're still at Steve's, right? I'll be there as soon as I can."

"No." It was sharp and defiant. Mike felt as if he had hit a brick wall, knocking him back to the floor.

"What?" he breathed.

El sniffled. "You can't. I don't want you to come. Ever. Just stay away, Mike." Her words, while shaky, were strong.

The realization of what she was trying to say washed over Mike in a wave of shock and disbelief. "You don't... you don't want me?" Mike's brow furrowed as he fought back the sting of tears.

"No."

His heart shattered like glass in his chest, but he held tight to the part of him that knew he and El had been meant to find each other in the woods off of Mirkwood that night. They were meant to be together. Right? "I don't believe you," he told her with as much strength in his voice as he could muster.

"You should."

This time his stomach dropped, and that part of him he was holding tight to began to slip away, but not without a fight. "Friends don't lie, El."

No response.

"El, please," his voice broke as that part of him disintegrated entirely. It was happening. He was losing her. "I can't lose you again. Remember? You promised... you promised." He paused as tears overflowed like never before. Still, she did not respond. "Where is this coming from? I thought we were happy..." This could not be it. This could not just be the end. "El, I love you. Please, can we at least talk about this?"

Silence.

"There's nothing to talk about," El's soft voice almost whispered after a drawn out moment. "I... I need you to stay away, Mike. Forever."

"El -"

"Goodbye, Mike. I'm sorry."

"El -" he began to plead again, but the line went dead, the dial tone ringing steadily in Mike's ear.

She had hung up and all Mike could do was curl up and cry in a ball on the floor, cradling the receiver in his hands. It was a cry so loud, it was silent. He never thought this day was come. It didn't feel real. But the physical pain he felt in his chest was a less than gentle reminder that it was.

_'She promised,'_ he kept repeating to himself over and over in his mind. He thought the 353 days he had spent without her had been rock bottom, that since she had returned he could only go up from there, but he was dead wrong. In the span of two minutes he had been pushed back down to the bottom only to have the floor give out under him. _She promised._ The emptiness he felt now was so much worse than the pain he had felt then. She was not lost, she was right down the street. She had not sacrificed herself for him and his friends, she threw him away. She did not want him. _She promised._ Ever since Eleven had come back, all he had dreamt about was losing her again, but it was not just a nightmare now. This was his reality.

Mike could not take it. Collapsing to his side, he pressed his cheek to the cold tile of the bathroom floor. His body released a noise that could only be described as half scream, half sob at the same moment his fist collided with the floor next to his face. Pain shot up his wrist, a welcome distraction to the pain that swelled in his heart. _She promised._

He felt so _weak._

Mrs. Wheeler rushed in and sat on the floor next to her heartbroken son, scooping him up in her arms and rocking him gently back and forth like she had when he was a baby. Her heart ached for Michael. What could have caused her son so much pain? She just knew that now was not the time to ask. "It's going to be okay, baby. Everything will be okay," she whispered into her only son's hair.

Holly trailed behind her mother and stood leaning against the doorframe. "Mikey, why are you sad?"

The three other boys rushed up the basement steps when they heard the loud scream upstairs. They scoured every room until Will spotted Holly and stopped short in the bathroom doorway. His heart broke at the sight of his best friend. Lucas and Dustin were quick to catch up. At moments like this, they all knew better to keep their mouths shut as they watched their noble paladin muffle his screams into his mother's shoulder. None of them were certain what could have happened, either. The idea of El breaking things off with Mike was just unimaginable.

_"Just be careful, alright? I can't lose you again."_

_She shook her head. "You won't lose me."_

_"Do you promise?"_

_"Promise." Something you can never break._

"She promised," Mike mumbled against his mom's shoulder.

"What was that, sweetheart?" she asked as she tried to cup his face in her hands, but he wrestled himself out of her embrace and up to his feet. Wiping the tears from his cheeks, he pushed his way through his friends and out of the bathroom.

"Mike," They called after him. "Were are you going?"

"I have to talk to her," Mike muttered. Dustin grabbed his wrist but he pulled it away quickly in protest. "She promised."

Mike did not think, and he would not think again until he saw El and made everything right. Until then, he was on autopilot.

"Talk to who?" Will called as Mike flung open the front door.

"El." Mike sprinted down the steps.

His friends behind him shared glances with his mother as she lifted Holly up into her arms. "We'll take good care of him, Mrs. Wheeler," Lucas assured before he, along with Will and Dustin, chased after their heartbroken friend.

Mike rode his bike as fast as it could take him to Steve's place. He dropped the bicycle carelessly in the driveway and took the stairs up to the entrance two at a time. The front door, as usual, was not locked, because this was Hawkins and no one seemed to bother. Mike opened the door and invited himself in.

But of course Steve was there before he even made it two feet into the apartment, invading Mike's personal space and trying to push him out. "You need to leave."

"I need to talk to El," Mike pushed back. Autopilot was not letting him leave without a fight. Luckily for Mike, his recent growth spurt had him nearly on par with Steve in both hight and build, so he stood a fair chance.

"Wheeler, you're a smart kid. So please, for her safety and you own, leave."

"No." Mike pushed against him again, but Steve pushed back harder.

Steve shook his head at the boy with the new tough act. "Listen, dipshit, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Get the fuck out."

Mike furrowed his brow at the soft man with the hard exterior. "Or what?"

"Mike," El's familiar voice spoke his name with a foreign tone, as if it were a word of warning. She appeared over Steve's shoulder a few feet down the hall. One hand clutched her shirt over her heart while the other held for dear life onto the arm of the girl Mike assumed was Ten. Mike thought that the moment he saw her, it would all make sense, but with her cheeks red and stained with tears, El looked as broken as he felt. Suddenly, nothing in the world made any sense at all.

"El," he begged.

"If you love me," her voice cracked as her eyes overflowed with emotion. "If you love me at all, Mike, you need to go."

"Mike!" he heard his friends shout in the distance outside, but their voices were easy to block out when the rest of the world may as well have been collapsing.

Mike felt like he must be dreaming again, but then he remembered that dreams cannot hurt you. The blood drained from his body as he stumbled backwards toward the door.

Before he could fall, two firm hands gripped his shoulders. "I'm afraid Michael is not going anywhere."

Turning his head, Mike discovered Dr. Brenner behind him. As his bewildered eyes locked with the dread and terror of El's, the pieces began falling into place in Mike's mind. Suddenly, it all connected. Everything made sense all at once.


	12. Metamorphosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful."  
> -M. Shelley

_TEN_ / Metamorphosis

The plan had been for Jane to call Mike and say whatever she needed in order to keep him away, at least long enough for them to hop in Steve's car and make it a decent part of the way to the Canadian boarder. It failed as quickly as it came to fruition. El, having chosen the breakup method, left Mike as heartbroken and stubborn as ever, pushing his way through the door faster than El could say "goodbye" and unknowingly leading Papa straight to his target.

The scene unfolded in Steve's living room, where tension hung heavily in the air.

Mike's friends had followed him, resulting in the four boys sitting on the couch at gunpoint. On the other end of the living space, Steve was held to an armchair in a similar fashion. As for Ten and Eleven, they stood in the center of the room, each playing target to their own handful of weapons held by men who lined the perimeter of the small room.

"What a lovely surprise," Papa beamed at the sight of Ten. He reached out to lay an open hand on her cheek, but thought better of it and settled for her shoulder instead, still under the cover of one of Steve's shirts. Sliding his hand down from her arm, he lifted her forearm to peek at the identifying number on her wrist. "Ten," he cooed, having differentiated the girl from her identical sister. Not that he had ever thought of them as two separate people. Or even as people at all. "I expect Nine is hiding around here somewhere. Hmm?" He raised his white brows expectantly.

"Gone," Ten muttered, avoiding his gaze by taking a strong interest in the solid black of his tie.

This peaked Papa's interest. "Pity." Except he did not seem upset about it. "Have you noticed a shift in your abilities since? Do you know what that word means, Ten? To shift."

In Ten's silence, he found his answer. "Well then, I cannot wait to start exploring that with you." He placed a kiss on Ten's forehead, a well calculated move.

_Papa stood and watched two of his men drag a young Nine to the isolation room as she screamed for her sister repeatedly. "Don't you see it, Nine?" Papa asked her. "As someone who can see the future, you should be looking at a very clear picture. Ten cannot save you. Believing so will be your demise."_

Tears welled up in her eyes as Ten came back to the present with a heavy heart. "No," she weeped, hating the thick sound of weakness in her voice.

"Yes, Ten. The future can change, but the past never lies. In both life and death you dragged your sister down."

Ten shook her head as tears poured over her cheeks. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry, and if she had the option, she would have traded fates with Nine in a heartbeat, but she knew he would never listen.

Turning to one of the men with their guns drawn in her direction he ordered, "No one touch her. And mind your eye contact, she is very dangerous. They both are." The large man nodded stiffly in response.

As Papa moved on, Ten locked eyes with Steve, who as a natural protector looked physically pained by not being able to step in and help. Through her eyes, she tried to convey how sorry she was, but she was not sure the message translated the same to him as it always had with Nine.

"Eleven," Papa gushed next, taking the young girl's face in his hands. She tried to flinch, but his grip was firm. "You try anything and Mr. Wheeler takes a bullet. Understand?"

An armed man with a sharp face pressed his weapon to Mike's temple, which had an immediate impact on the straightness of his posture.

"I understand." Eleven's voice was barely above a whisper, but her wide eyes conveyed the message loud and clear. Papa had bent both Eleven and Ten until they broke. His threats meant nothing to them anymore. Not until he threatened a loved one on their behalf. Ten knew the feeling all too well having had Nine's safety dangled over her head far too many times to count.

"Good." Papa smiled, except it did not reach his eyes. The longer he searched her face, the further his smile slipped. "Eleven, I was heartbroken to discover that all this time you thought I was dead. That you did not even bother to look for me. I'm sure you can imagine my pain when I discovered you had replaced me. Thing is, you will never be able to replace me, Eleven. It is about time you realize that. I'm sure Nine would have even told you herself," he glanced to Ten, who focused on the fibers of the carpet, "had she still been with us. But you, Eleven, you have a wound. A terrible wound." Eleven looked as if she could throw up. His words struck a chord deep inside of her. Papa was a smart man, and any move he made, any word he spoke, was a calculated one.

Releasing Eleven from his grip, Papa turned to face the boys on the couch. "Your friends have all grown into strapping young men, Eleven. Especially your boyfriend, here." He leaned over and whispered something into Mike's ear before pulling away and raising his eyebrows in question. Mike's face read nothing but utter disgust for the man before him while a shade of flush rose in his cheeks.

"That's enough," Steve muttered from the other side of the room. His guard pressed the barrel of his gun to Steve's temple with enough force to cause everyone's breaths to hitch in their throats.

"Steve," Ten breathed instinctively.

"Don't shoot until I tell you to," Papa told his men, and the guard lowered his weapon. "Steve, would you mind repeating to us all what you just said?"

"I said that's enough," he repeated through clenched teeth. "They're just kids."

Papa nodded and narrowed his eyes in consideration. "So they are... but Ten is not." He grabbed Ten by the upper arm and pulled her toward the chair Steve occupied. "Ten, you are an adult, perfectly capable of making your now decision. So, the choice is yours and I trust you to make it wisely." His grip on her tightened. "You can come with me, or I can have Harrington killed."

"I'll go with you, Papa." Ten made her decision before he even finished his sentence.

"Rose -" Steve whispered, voice nearly begging.

Papa chuckled. "Excellent choice. Do tell me, Mr. Harrington, is she always this eager?"

Every muscle in Steve's body went tense. When he rose from his seat, Papa's hand, outstretched to halt, was the only thing keeping every guard in the room at bay.

The two men stood chest to chest, Papa cold and collected compared to the storm that was brewing inside of Steve; hands fisted, jaw set, eyes ablaze.

Seconds passed. Or maybe it was hours. Either way the stakes were too much for Ten to bear. "Steve -" she tried softly.

But Steve was beginning at the same time. "What did you do to them?"

Papa blinked once before responding automatically, "I'm sure they've told you whatever version of reality they believe to be true."

"No. No, they haven't. They hardly talk about it at all, actually, because it's to terrifying for them to even remember. Which makes me wonder just how fucked up you really are." Papa had no response, so Steve kept on going. "They're people, Brenner. And they're not yours to take."

Papa took a step closer so he and Steve stood just inches apart. "You're wrong." Grabbing Ten's arm again, he jerked her closer, though neither man turned their hard gaze from the other. "Use Ten as an example for all of them. She, like the others, is a weapon."

Steve scoffed humorously, sneaking a glance at Ten before pursing his lips to hold back a smile. "Her?"

"Absolutely. Her ability to use your past, your memories, regrets, fears, and secrets against you is the very core of her design and training. And that's just the beginning." He snatched her left forearm next, holding it up and showing off the branding on her wrist as proof. "And she is mine, as much as something that does not exist can be."

"What?" Steve asked, because clearly Ten existed.

"You heard me. Ten simply does not exist. No birth certificate, no real documentation, nothing. Not a trace. And Eleven's forged papers are exactly that: fake. I can make her disappear again easily."

Papa released his tight grip around Ten's arm with force. "Ow," she muttered to herself, rubbing at the spot he had left sore.

Papa continued on. "So you are wrong. They are not people. They are not anything but weapons, or numbers on a spreadsheet, or subjects in an experiment of mutation that -"

No one knows what he was going to say next because he was promptly cut off by Steve's fist colliding with Papa's nose.

Faster than Ten could shout "Steve!" the boy who had tried to stand up against the villain was met with a bullet to the leg. Crying out in agony, he collapsed to the floor.

At the sound of the gunshot, the front and back doors of the townhouse were kicked down. "Police! On the ground!" armored men with heavy artillery repeatedly yelled as they flooded all corners of the home. Helping lead the SWAT team was Chief Hopper.

Ten obeyed the demand and fell to the floor next to Steve, who writhed in unimaginable pain. She grabbed hold of the collar of his polo and tried to assure him that everything was going to be okay, but he could not hear her through the commotion.

So, mustering all of the energy she had in her, she placed a hand on Steve's cheek and willed herself to pull forward a piece of his future. One that was light and happy and normal. One that was anything but this.

_The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day in Hawkins, Indiana. The scene unfolded below as Ten watched from above. The shot to Steve's leg was since a memory with no serous harm done. He pulled his car up to the curb in front of a shabby little house at the end of a_ _cul-de-sac. It was small and could definitely use some work, but it was his. He smiled widely at the girl in the passenger seat who looked up at him, deep blue eyes brilliant and sparkling. "Ready?"_

_He and Rose hopped out of the car as a moving truck backed into the driveway. The pair made their way over to where Dustin and Jane waited on the front porch steps. Hopper climbed out of driver's seat of the truck and met Steve with a clap on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, kid. Let's get unpacking."_

_They all started toward the truck, and when Steve reached out the rustle Jane's hair, her hand swatted him away. "Rejected," Dustin laughed, nudging Steve in the side. Steve laughed along as he tossed his arm around Rose's shoulders and pulled her in close. The moment he leaned down to press a kiss to her temple a memory flashed behind her eyes, and as he pulled away she looked up to him with a broad smile. As far as Steve Harrington was concerned, everything was exactly as it should be._

Attempting something she had never done before, she pushed the vision. Not away, but outwardly; willing it to project against the current, through her touch and into Steve's line of sight. Though his expression was still a pained one, he fell calm as Ten showed him all of the good that was to come.

Papa was right. With each passing day without her twin, Ten's abilities grew and shifted. She had no idea that she possessed that kind of power, but she was desperate to help Steve like he had helped her, and her sight was all she had to give.


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I love you, and that's the beginning and the end of everything."  
> -F. Scott Fitzgerald

_ONE WEEK LATER_ / Epilogue

As he approached the door to the cabin he took a deep breath. Mike knocked once, twice, then three times. He heard the bolts on the other side of the door unlock before it flew open. El, as beautiful as ever, stood before him.

"Hi, El."

"Mike," she whispered as she threw her arms around him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

He had not been able to see her since the night Brenner showed up, and they had not spoken since their phone call. Hopper kept El hidden away somewhere outside of Hawkins, possibly even Indiana, until he could confirm for himself that the evil man was rotting in prison. Because while Brenner had worked for the government, many of his higher-ups had no idea about his human experimentation and refused to stand for it, for obvious reasons.

The past week had been a complete roller coaster of emotions, including but not limited to anger, heartbreak, and terror for his life. It all was able to finally disappear the moment El was in his arms. She was safe, she was alive, and she was _his._

"I thought I lost you," Mike murmured into her hair. And he was not just talking about the fake breakup. As soon as he had seen Brenner, he had understood why El had done what she did. Brenner had successfully followed Mike to El before, so why not do it again? While Mike was overflowing with the emotions of a broken promise, the reality was that El was trying to ensure the safety of both of them matter how much emotional damage it caused. It had been an attempt to keep that same promise; she had been trying to make sure that she was not locked up again. That he would not lose her in a whole new way.

El pulled away from Mike just enough to touch her forehead with his. "I hate hurting you."

Mike closed his eyes, reliving the earth-shattering heart break he had experienced just a week ago, resulting in the ache he still felt in his sprained wrist; a result of punching the bathroom floor. "I know," he told her, recalling how broken she had looked that night while clutching Ten's arm like it was her last lifeline. He pressed a kiss to El's forehead, then the tip of her nose, then finally her lips.

"Watch it, Wheeler," Hopper warned from his spot at the small kitchen table. Mike stepped away from the man's daughter and cleared his throat. The chief chuckled and nodded at the boy's hand and wrist, wrapped tightly in a white bandage. "What happened to your hand?"

Mike held it up to look at for himself. "After El... I punched the floor. Sprained my wrist," Mike admitted. When he said it out loud he realized how ridiculous it must have sounded. El clasped her hand with Mike's uninjured one while Hopper nodded in consideration.

Silence fell over them as they all tried not to remember the insanity that unfolded the week before. That was until El started tugging Mike toward her bedroom. "We're going to watch TV," she announced to Hop.

"Door stays open," he reminded her before turning his attention back to the morning newspaper.

Mike plopped down on the edge of El's bed as she turned on the television set she had moved from the living room prior to his arrival. Sitting down next to him, she took his bandaged hand in her own and inspected it carefully as colorful cartoons danced in the background.

"Mike -" she began.

"It's okay, El," he reassured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head against him.

"I love you."

"I know," he said with a smile to himself. "I love you, too."

They sat like that for a moment, taking in each other's presence while a commercial break filled the spaces of silence.

"Mike?"

"Yeah, El?"

She pulled away to search his dark eyes. "Are you my boyfriend?" she asked, recalling both Brenner's words along with all of their friends' jokes.

The question threw Mike off. It was defiantly not something he had been expecting, though in retrospect he probably should have. _"You might as well be,"_ Max's voice echoed in his mind. Maybe she knew something Mike did not. Maybe they talked about it during all of the girl time they spent together. He decided the best option was to ask, "Do you want me to be?"

El nodded with a small smile. He grinned back and she understood, the two never needing many words. Bringing his hands to her face, Mike kissed his girlfriend deeply but quickly, before Hopper could peek in and notice. "I love you, El."

And El smiled Mike's favorite smile. "I know."

* * *

"You know you love me, Roosevelt." Tack teased with humor in his voice.

Ten rolled her eyes. "I thought we retired 'Roosevelt.'"

"Hey, _we_ didn't retire anything. Nicknames stick, Dime. Trust me. You may be a dead president, but I'm an office supply."

Ten laughed. "Good point. But Dime's worse than Roosevelt so can we at least put that one away?"

"You got it, Roosevelt."

"Thanks," Ten sighed. Her cheeks ached from smiling like they always did when she talked to Tack, and she did not want to hang up but they both had bigger things to focus on. "Anyways, call me later. And I promise I'll see you soon."

"You better," Tack threatened lightheartedly before they each hung up their ends of the phone.

Just as she placed the receiver into the base, Dustin rounded the corner into the kitchen with a sigh. "He's awake and asking for you."

She smiled at her new friend. Visitation at the hospital had been family only, so Dustin and Ten had spent the past week bonding over their stress until Steve was released the day prior. Now that he was home, the two took turns caring for him. Dustin's other friends, Lucas, Will, and Max, came to help out, too. However, they mostly just hung out in the living room, leaving Dustin and Ten to do all of the work. Not that they minded.

"Thanks," she told him as she reached out and squeezed his hand.

_"She found_ another _sister?" Lucas asked after being told about Ten, his expression one of disbelief._

_"Yeah, and she's_ smokin' _hot," Dustin bragged. "Easily a ten out of ten -"_

"No fair!" Dustin pulled his hand away from her grip as soon as he realized what was happening. Ten just laughed ad shook her head as she started toward Steve's bedroom. "What did you see?"

"You're adorable, Dustin," she told him as she made her way down the hall.

"I'm glad you're so amused, Rose. What did you see? I deserve to know!"

She stopped short in front of the bedroom door, trying her hardest to contain her laughter. With a smirk, Ten pointed in the direction of the living room where Dustin's friends gathered. It took the boy a second to realize what she meant, but the moment he did was evident on his face. His hands flew up to rest on the top of his head as his cheeks turned a shade of scarlet to match the brim of his hat. "Shit."

"You're adorable," she repeated before turning and entering Steve's room, biting her lip as an attempt to hold back her giggles.

Steve sat up with his back against the headboard and his injured left leg propped up on a pillow. His eyes lit up when he saw Ten, and he smiled as he noticed her own grin. She sat on the bed so she was facing him, legs criss-crossed under her.

"Dustin?" Steve guessed with a smirk. As she nodded, Ten lost her composure and began laughing again. It was the contagious kind; the one that always sounded better after Steve joined in.

He reached up and ran his fingers along the outer perimeter of her eye socket, where her bruise had yellowed. His memory of the future she had show him flashed before her eyes. Steve moved his hand from her face and placed it on her knee, safely covered by her pants.

"How?" he asked, studying her with a look of amazement.

"How did I show you the future?"

"That was the future?"

"Yeah," Ten nodded, the corner of her mouth pulling up into a half smile. "I can't just make it up. That was _your_ future."

"How?" he asked again.

"I dunno," she told him honestly. "I guess I just wanted you to see it bad enough."

Steve nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied with her answer. And the more he thought about it, the wider his grin grew, seemingly satisfied with what life had to offer him. "You won't miss Indianapolis?"

Ten shrugged. "I'll miss my friends, but never the city." She laced her fingers through Steve's and blocked his visions from her mind.

Blood threatened to drip from her nose, and she caught it quickly with the shirt sleeve of her free hand, mumbling an apology out of habit. She looked up at Steve through her lashes just in time to see his hazel eyes, full of warmth and wonder, light up at the realization that she was not wanting to spy on his past, rather actually hold his hand.

"It's a good life with you, Rose," he decided.

Tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear, she rest her forehead against his, beaming in agreement. Steve, following an impulse, reached up with his thumb and traced the outline of her lower lip with his thumb. "I'm so lucky," he whispered so softly it was almost inaudible before closing the space between them. He kissed her slowly and lightly, as if he wanted it to last but feared she would disappear entirely if he went any deeper. Steve's touch made Ten's heart soar in her chest and she struggled to keep herself in the present. Overcome with happiness, she smiled against his lips and laughed softly. When she pulled away, his expression matched her own.

With a content sigh, Ten pulled her hand from his and dropped her head to his shoulder, weak from pushing her powers away. After resting like that for a minute she found the energy to pull herself up. His eyes met her own once more, and with a half smile she reached up and traced the scar above his brow with the tip of her finger, searching his most recent memories to watch their kiss from Steve's point of view. Once she was done, she dropped her hand in her lap and found comfort in the fact that Steve had a future to look forward to that was good and bright and abundant. But it had not just been Steve's future, it was hers, too. Ten's heart fluttered at the beauty of it all. "It's a good life with you, too, Steve Harrington. I'm so lucky to see it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so much for making it all the way here with me! It truly does mean the world to me that people take the time to not only read but enjoy my stories, and if you have a moment I would love to hear what you think.
> 
> Though this is the end of this story, it is not the end of Steve and Ten. I have written a sequel for this story that is up now on FanFiction, but if you would like me to post it here please let me know and I will be happy to do so. Here's the quick synopsis:
> 
> "And then she remembered the black, deep dark and endless, and suddenly she did not need to remember anything at all." It is November of 1985 in Hawkins, Indiana and things are starting to feel normal again. But when something, or someone, begins draining Ten of her powers, she reminds everyone that their lives could never be so simple.
> 
> Again, if you want to see that uploaded to this site, please just let me know! But either way, thank you once again for joining me on this little adventure! Your support means the absolute world to me. 
> 
> xx starsandrockets


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